Adriana Lima Defends Her Extreme Pre-Victoria’s Secret Show Diet

Last week, Victoria’s Secret angel Adriana Lima pulled a surprise move for a model and revealed that she has to work really hard to achieve her runway physique. This should come as a surprise to no one because–despite what an army of publicists would have you believe–most people aren’t born a size 2 with a smoky eye and perfect beachy waves. …Unless you’re Chanel Iman, in which case you eat barbecue to prep.

What was a surprise, though? Lima’s diet was almost too draconian to be believed: beginning nine days before the show, she works out twice a day and consumes no solids. For the day before? Not even a drop of water.

Now, the model is defending her extreme diet by comparing herself to an athlete and offering the equivalent of “Don’t try this at home.” She says:

“Those teenagers out there, don’t go starving yourself or only drinking liquids. Don’t do that please… I know it’s very intense but … I just have an athlete’s mind and I appreciate doing this thing. It’s not that I do crazy diets throughout the year. I just do it for this particular thing. After this show, I become normal again.” [tagbox tag="Adriana Lima"]

Lima’s kind of missing the point here. Although we’re still impressed with her candor, her confession reveals a glaring problem with the ideal put forth by Victoria’s Secret: these already genetically-blessed women have to forgo water to look this way. The fact of the matter is that women in the public eye shouldn’t have to go without solids for two weeks in order to be considered gorgeous.

Also! Although we don’t think one size 4/6 on the runway represents monumental change, we do think it’s progress, by which we mean: where the hell was Kate Upton?! The brand made a big deal out of signing the blonde back in April and we haven’t seen much of her since.

(Editor’s Note: Last time around we saw some commenters saying, “So what? This is what wrestlers do.” That may be true, but we had several friends growing up who were hospitalized for dehydration, starvation and bulimia… all to make weight for wrestling. So we’re not terribly receptive to the “This is what wrestlers do” argument but that’s just us.)

Why is this so shocking? Body builders do the same sort of thing all the time to get their muscles popping for a stage show.

Personal responsibility needs to play into things, you’re not a professional model or body builder, so don’t do what the do.

MM

Is that really a fair argument? Just because more than one group of people do something shitty doesn’t mean it’s OK.

Katrina

I see this as a step forward for people advocating for more normal sized models on the runway. By being honest and saying ‘yes we are doing unhealthy things’ she’s finally breaking out of the lie that she was born that way. I still say good for her.
On another note: after watching many of my friends torture their bodies to ‘make weight’ and even myself being told to lose weight to row as a lightweight (I’m 5’10″ to weigh less than 130lbs and keep enough muscle on me to keep my seat in the boat would be impossible. 145lbs was already a struggle.) I have vowed to never let any future child of mine play a sport where a maximum weight is required. It is every bit as unhealthy and damaging as letting your kid grow up fat.

moi

were we all honestly under the impression that models consumed more than cigarettes, coffee, champagne, and coke?

Fatima

I think it’s better for people, especially young girls, to know the extreme lengths it takes to look so ‘picture perfect’. It’s a little insane. I understand and agree with her athlete comparison. Some athletes train for hours on end and undergo grueling diets whether it be calorie overload or restriction. Her look is her livelihood and there’s more to things than meets the eye and while some people know this unfortunately a lot of people, young people, don’t.

Hopefully there will be more girls who will realize how crazy the lengths are to get such results than those who will try to follow this method. I won’t say being this thin is unnatural as an adult woman but it’s very very very rare to be so with such proportions as the VS models have. Adriana is simply shining light on a touchy topic.

Fatima

Also, I don’t think Lima is ‘missing the point’. I think people just don’t like to hear the truth about things. She’s basically admitting that she finds what she has to do ‘abnormal’ too but given the industry she is in this is what she needs to do.

Blame it on the media, blame it on society, blame it on whoever or whatever but if I had to frolick around in next to nothing in front of millions of people only to be picked apart from here until eternity, I’d go all out as well to look as good as possible whether it be through waxing or dehydration. Sad but true. Also, it should be noted that she was under physician supervision. She wasn’t doing this all willy nilly lying on the dressing room floor somewhere until showtime. That’s kind of a biggie.

Nieva

I am absolutely thrilled to hear a model finally being HONEST about how they get their “runway” body. This is monumental because it proves that its nearly impossible to maintain a body as shown on the fashion show all year long. Even these beautiful models have to go to extreme measures to look a certain way. Adriana is an inspiration and a realist!